The woman sucked in a breath at the sight of the wound. How much force had it taken to tear it open like this? It was a bloody mess-even a doctor winced looking at it.
After all, she was a pediatrician and had rarely seen anything like this.
She began by disinfecting it, cleaning the blood off his hand and slowly wiping away enough to reveal the original wound. The process took so long that the blood on Xia Shule's bleeding wound had completely clotted, stopping the flow.
Xia Shule was so sleepy he could barely stay awake. Too much was slipping out of his body.
His little platelets~ had run away from home~
Finally, as the woman wiped the wound, she rubbed away the clot plugging it, and blood came gushing out again like floodwater through an open dam.
Xia Shule's vision went black. Whether that was from blood loss or sheer speechlessness, he couldn't tell...
He grabbed a thick stack of gauze beside him and pressed it against his wrist. His lips pale, he managed a weak smile at the woman. "Maybe I should wait for Doctor Xu to get back..."
Looking a little embarrassed herself, the woman nodded without a word.
Song Dimu muttered beside him, "Isn't she a doctor too? Why does it feel like she has no idea how to treat a wound?"
Xia Shule had long since given up hope. He tilted his head straight back toward the ceiling, hoping his tears wouldn't fall. "...Maybe this isn't her specialty..."
Xia Shule was genuinely afraid this woman would treat him to death... He would wait... At least that gave him a better chance of survival than letting her continue.
Doctor Xu... you really are the best. At least you don't make things worse the more you treat them.
Less than three minutes later, Xu Wenchuan finally walked into the office and froze at the sight of the crowd.
To Xia Shule, it felt like a god had descended from heaven. He was on the verge of shedding hot tears.
The instant Xu Wenchuan saw that Xia Shule's wound had split open again and again and again and again, his vision went black-even blacker than Xia Shule's had.
Xu Wenchuan: You again, you little menace...
The properly qualified doctor, Xu Wenchuan, immediately began treating the wound, with no time to deal with anything else.
Xu Wenchuan's technique was clearly much more practiced. He stopped the bleeding first, then applied medicine and bandaged it. He even fitted Xia Shule with a protective wrist brace so he couldn't treat his hand so carelessly.
Whatever he did, Xia Shule cooperated. All his energy was gone; he was nothing but a human-shaped lump of useless flesh now.
"Who poured hydrogen peroxide on this?" Remembering the white bubbles he had seen on the wound, Xu Wenchuan demanded an explanation.
He assumed Xia Shule had poured it on while treating himself, so his question carried a note of exasperation.
Instead, Xia Shule pointed his little hand and opened his little mouth. "Her!"
Xu Wenchuan had not expected that answer at all. His helplessness turned to suppressed anger. He had meant to show her some consideration because she was the hospital director's daughter, but how many times had she caused trouble this month already?
"Li Mengduo, you're a pediatric dentist. Could you please stop coming here and making a mess of things?"
Xu Wenchuan was gentle and polite, rarely losing his temper. This time, he was clearly genuinely angry, but his tone remained calm even as his words turned firm.
"I just... wanted to help lighten your workload." Li Mengduo liked Xu Wenchuan, but he didn't seem particularly fond of her.
"Get out."
"Wenchuan, I really didn't mean to~" Li Mengduo tried to wheedle.
Xia Shule stared, dumbfounded. Who was this? How had the cool, glamorous career woman who had greeted them when they first entered suddenly turned into a simpering little sweetheart? Was this the power of love?
Looking at her blazing red lips, Xia Shule could hardly bear to watch.
"Get out!" Xu Wenchuan's tone was firm.
Li Mengduo had no choice but to reluctantly leave, casting several lingering looks at Xu Wenchuan. When he showed no sign of softening, she finally went.
Xu Wenchuan held Xia Shule's wrist, looking pained on his behalf. "It must hurt, right? Why didn't you wait for me to come back?"
Xia Shule was in pain-so much pain he could die. How could pouring hydrogen peroxide onto that wound not hurt? She had looked professional, okay!
"I thought that was how it was supposed to be done, so I just put up with it..." Who knew she had no idea what she was doing?
Xu Wenchuan gave him an exasperated look. Normally, he would howl the place down, but now he had decided to endure it. "Since when have you been this good-tempered? You even know how to put up with pain now."
"Tch. I've always been this nice. What do you know?"
Xu Wenchuan didn't argue. His attention shifted to the person beside them who had barely made his presence felt. Song Dimu's features were clear and delicate, like a gently flowing stream, with a trace of melancholy around his eyes.
Feeling the intent gaze, Song Dimu looked up and met Xu Wenchuan's eyes directly.
"Is this your friend?" Xu Wenchuan asked.
Song Dimu felt both hopeful and nervous. How would Xia Shule introduce him?
"Yeah, my friend."
Xu Wenchuan noticed Song Dimu's eyes light up at that moment.
"All right, I'm bandaged up, so I'm leaving. Hopefully I won't see you again!" Xia Shule stood up.
Xu Wenchuan said, "Same here."
Xu Wenchuan: Oh, how I hope so!
Song Dimu drove again on the way back. Xia Shule still had some things to explain, so he planned to return to the company with him.
A little incident interrupted the drive.
Song Dimu's phone rang, with "Boss" on the caller ID. Xia Shule assumed it was someone from Shengshi Entertainment. Since Song Dimu was driving, he casually answered it and switched on speakerphone.
To his surprise, it was Jiang Gechen. The moment the call connected, rude words came spilling out. Xia Shule was stunned by what he heard. How dare he talk to their bottom protagonist like that?!
"I saw from your location history that you went to the hospital. Visiting your mom again? Come over at six tonight. We'll have dinner."
Song Dimu stiffened at the sound of his voice, mainly because Xia Shule was sitting in the car, and Jiang Gechen had chosen this exact moment to call.
When no answer came for a while, Jiang Gechen lost patience. "Speak!"
"Okay. I'll come over tonight."
"Beep..." The call ended.
Xia Shule felt a little awkward too. He should have been under the car, not inside it.
But logically, Jiang Gechen couldn't possibly be treating Song Dimu so badly. By this point, he was already standing up for Song Dimu. In just a few days, Xia Shule would be losing his life.
How could this be his attitude? Had something gone wrong along the way?
Or was there something Xia Shule didn't know?
"Sorry you had to see that..." Song Dimu looked a little embarrassed.
Puzzled, Xia Shule didn't know how to ask. "It's fine. It's just, he..."
Song Dimu glanced at Xia Shule and smiled. "It's always been like this, actually. He has a short temper."
The Jiang Gechen Xia Shule had seen before had always looked aloof, but he had never seen him behave like this. This was the first he had heard of Jiang Gechen having a short temper.
Maybe this was who he really was. Xia Shule looked at Song Dimu with sympathy. The two protagonists were destined to be together, and that seemed impossible to change. Would Song Dimu have to put up with that lunatic for the rest of his life?
He and Song Dimu had only just cleared the air. He couldn't ask whether Song Dimu wanted to leave with him now, nor could he meddle too much in his affairs.
Song Dimu's bond with Jiang Gechen was certainly deeper than his bond with Xia Shule. He would have to wait a while before bringing it up.
"We're here."
The car stopped outside the company. Xia Shule tucked his thoughts away and took Song Dimu with him to Su Jin's office.